1972–73 Quebec Nordiques season

1972–73 Quebec Nordiques
Division	5th Eastern
1972–73 record	33–40–5
Home record	22–12–5
Road record	11–28–0
Goals for	276
Goals against	313
Team information
General manager	Marius Fortier
Coach	Maurice Richard (1–1–0) Maurice Filion (32–39–5)
Captain	J. C. Tremblay
Alternate captains	Jean-Guy Gendron Mike Harvey Rene LeClerc
Arena	Quebec Coliseum
Average attendance	6,923 (69.2%)
Team leaders
Goals	Alain Caron (36)
Assists	J. C. Tremblay (75)
Points	J. C. Tremblay (89)
Penalty minutes	Pierre Roy (169)
Wins	Serge Aubry (22)
Goals against average	Serge Aubry (3.59)

The 1972–73 Quebec Nordiques season was the Nordiques' first season, as they were one of the original teams in the newly created WHA. The Nordiques franchise was originally awarded to a group in San Francisco, California, and was named the San Francisco Sharks, however, funding collapsed prior to the start of the season, and the WHA sold the organization to a Quebec City group led by Marcel Aubut and Paul Racine. They named the club the Nordiques due to the northern location of the team.

Regular season

The Nordiques would name former Montreal Canadiens great Maurice Richard the head coach of the club, and played their first ever game on October 11, 1972, losing 2–0 on the road to the Cleveland Crusaders. The Nordiques would win their home opener, shutting out the Alberta Oilers 6–0 at Le Colisée. After the game, Richard would step down from head coaching duties, as he was not comfortable doing the job, and Maurice Filion would take over. The Nords would end up just missing the playoffs, finishing the year with a 33–40–5 record, earning them 71 points, 3 behind the Ottawa Nationals for the final playoff position in the Eastern Division.

Offensively, Quebec was led by defenceman J. C. Tremblay, who led the WHA in assists with 75 and led the Nordiques with 89 points. Alain Caron would score a team high 36 goals. Michel Parizeau and Andre Gaudette would each break the 70 point barrier, recording 73 points and 71 respectively. Pierre Roy would lead the club with 169 penalty minutes, while Michel Rouleau would get 142 in 52 games after being acquired by the Philadelphia Blazers.

In goal, Serge Aubry would get the majority of playing time, earning a club high 25 wins and a team best 3.60 GAA along with 2 shutouts.

Season standings

Eastern Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PIM	Pts
New England Whalers	78	46	30	2	318	263	858	94
Cleveland Crusaders	78	43	32	3	287	239	1095	89
Philadelphia Blazers	78	38	40	0	288	305	1260	76
Ottawa Nationals	78	35	39	4	279	301	1067	74
Quebec Nordiques	78	33	40	5	276	313	1354	71
New York Raiders	78	33	43	2	303	334	900	68

Schedule and results

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Pts
1	October 11	Quebec Nordiques	0–2	Cleveland Crusaders	0–1–0	0
2	October 13	Alberta Oilers	0–6	Quebec Nordiques	1–1–0	2
3	October 19	Quebec Nordiques	4–3	New England Whalers	2–1–0	4
4	October 21	New England Whalers	4–6	Quebec Nordiques	3–1–0	6
5	October 22	Ottawa Nationals	3–2	Quebec Nordiques	3–2–0	6
6	October 24	Houston Aeros	3–5	Quebec Nordiques	4–2–0	8
7	October 26	Minnesota Fighting Saints	4–5	Quebec Nordiques	5–2–0	10
8	October 29	Cleveland Crusaders	2–2	Quebec Nordiques	5–2–1	11
9	October 31	Los Angeles Sharks	4–2	Quebec Nordiques	5–3–1	11
10	November 2	Philadelphia Blazers	3–6	Quebec Nordiques	6–3–1	13
11	November 4	Quebec Nordiques	4–5	Cleveland Crusaders	6–4–1	13
12	November 5	Chicago Cougars	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	7–4–1	15
13	November 8	Winnipeg Jets	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	8–4–1	17
14	November 11	Houston Aeros	1–3	Quebec Nordiques	9–4–1	19
15	November 15	New York Raiders	4–7	Quebec Nordiques	10–4–1	21
16	November 16	Quebec Nordiques	4–5	Minnesota Fighting Saints	10–5–1	21
17	November 18	Quebec Nordiques	1–7	New York Raiders	10–6–1	21
18	November 21	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Ottawa Nationals	10–7–1	21
19	November 24	Quebec Nordiques	3–5	Winnipeg Jets	10–8–1	21
20	November 26	Quebec Nordiques	1–4	Winnipeg Jets	10–9–1	21
21	November 28	Chicago Cougars	2–6	Quebec Nordiques	11–9–1	23
22	December 2	Quebec Nordiques	2–7	New England Whalers	11–10–1	23
23	December 3	Quebec Nordiques	6–2	Alberta Oilers	12–10–1	25
24	December 5	Quebec Nordiques	4–2	Winnipeg Jets	13–10–1	27
25	December 7	Cleveland Crusaders	3–1	Quebec Nordiques	13–11–1	27
26	December 9	Quebec Nordiques	4–2	Chicago Cougars	14–11–1	29
27	December 10	Quebec Nordiques	6–7	Ottawa Nationals	14–12–1	29
28	December 12	Philadelphia Blazers	2–5	Quebec Nordiques	15–12–1	31
29	December 13	Quebec Nordiques	1–9	New York Raiders	15–13–1	31
30	December 15	Quebec Nordiques	3–6	Cleveland Crusaders	15–14–1	31
31	December 17	Cleveland Crusaders	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	16–14–1	33
32	December 19	Ottawa Nationals	3–7	Quebec Nordiques	17–14–1	35
33	December 23	Los Angeles Sharks	1–2	Quebec Nordiques	18–14–1	37
34	December 24	Quebec Nordiques	2–6	Ottawa Nationals	18–15–1	37
35	December 26	New York Raiders	5–2	Quebec Nordiques	18–16–1	37
36	December 28	New England Whalers	5–3	Quebec Nordiques	18–17–1	37
37	December 29	Quebec Nordiques	3–5	Cleveland Crusaders	18–18–1	37
38	December 31	Ottawa Nationals	4–8	Quebec Nordiques	19–18–1	39
39	January 8	Quebec Nordiques	6–5	New York Raiders	20–18–1	41
40	January 9	Quebec Nordiques	5–7	Ottawa Nationals	20–19–1	41
41	January 12	Quebec Nordiques	2–3	Minnesota Fighting Saints	20–20–1	41
42	January 13	Quebec Nordiques	4–9	Philadelphia Blazers	20–21–1	41
43	January 16	Ottawa Nationals	4–5	Quebec Nordiques	21–21–1	43
44	January 18	New York Raiders	4–4	Quebec Nordiques	21–21–2	44
45	January 20	Minnesota Fighting Saints	10–5	Quebec Nordiques	21–22–2	44
46	January 23	Quebec Nordiques	1–7	Chicago Cougars	21–23–2	44
47	January 24	Philadelphia Blazers	6–4	Quebec Nordiques	21–24–2	44
48	January 26	Winnipeg Jets	2–2	Quebec Nordiques	21–24–3	45
49	January 27	Quebec Nordiques	3–1	New England Whalers	22–24–3	47
50	February 1	Minnesota Fighting Saints	2–4	Quebec Nordiques	23–24–3	49
51	February 4	Quebec Nordiques	4–5	New York Raiders	23–25–3	49
52	February 7	Philadelphia Blazers	0–3	Quebec Nordiques	24–25–3	51
53	February 8	Quebec Nordiques	2–5	Chicago Cougars	24–26–3	51
54	February 10	Quebec Nordiques	4–5	Philadelphia Blazers	24–27–3	51
55	February 11	New England Whalers	2–2	Quebec Nordiques	24–27–4	52
56	February 14	Ottawa Nationals	6–3	Quebec Nordiques	24–28–4	52
57	February 16	Los Angeles Sharks	2–2	Quebec Nordiques	24–28–5	53
58	February 17	New England Whalers	6–4	Quebec Nordiques	24–29–5	53
59	February 20	Chicago Cougars	4–2	Quebec Nordiques	24–30–5	53
60	February 22	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Houston Aeros	24–31–5	53
61	February 24	Quebec Nordiques	5–3	Los Angeles Sharks	25–31–5	55
62	February 25	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Los Angeles Sharks	25–32–5	55
63	March 3	Quebec Nordiques	4–3	Houston Aeros	26–32–5	57
64	March 4	Quebec Nordiques	6–3	Houston Aeros	27–32–5	59
65	March 6	Quebec Nordiques	2–3	Los Angeles Sharks	27–33–5	59
66	March 8	Winnipeg Jets	7–4	Quebec Nordiques	27–34–5	59
67	March 9	Quebec Nordiques	3–11	Philadelphia Blazers	27–35–5	59
68	March 11	New York Raiders	1–6	Quebec Nordiques	28–35–5	61
69	March 12	Quebec Nordiques	6–4	Philadelphia Blazers	29–35–5	63
70	March 16	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Alberta Oilers	29–36–5	63
71	March 17	Quebec Nordiques	0–3	Alberta Oilers	29–37–5	63
72	March 20	Cleveland Crusaders	1–4	Quebec Nordiques	30–37–5	65
73	March 24	Alberta Oilers	4–5	Quebec Nordiques	31–37–5	67
74	March 25	Alberta Oilers	5–4	Quebec Nordiques	31–38–5	67
75	March 27	Quebec Nordiques	2–6	Ottawa Nationals	31–39–5	67
76	March 29	Quebec Nordiques	5–3	Minnesota Fighting Saints	32–39–5	69
77	March 31	Houston Aeros	1–5	Quebec Nordiques	33–39–5	71
78	April 1	Quebec Nordiques	3–8	New England Whalers	33–40–5	71

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM /- PPG SHG GWG J. C. Tremblay D 75 14 75 89 32 0 4 0 3 Michel Parizeau C 75 25 48 73 50 0 10 1 4 Andre Gaudette C 77 27 44 71 12 0 0 5 3 Alain Caron RW 68 36 27 63 14 0 15 0 5 Bobby Guindon LW 71 28 28 56 31 0 3 1 0 Rene Leclerc RW 67 24 28 52 111 0 8 2 0 Jean-Guy Gendron LW 63 17 33 50 113 0 5 0 0 Jean Payette C 71 15 29 44 46 0 8 0 0 Michel Archambault LW 57 12 25 37 36 0 3 0 0 Yves Bergeron RW 65 14 19 33 32 0 3 0 0 Francois Lacombe D 62 10 18 28 123 0 0 0 0 Rejean Giroux RW 59 10 12 22 41 0 4 0 0 Michel Rouleau C 52 7 14 21 142 0 0 1 0 Frank Golembrosky RW 52 8 12 20 44 0 0 0 0 Pierre Roy D 64 7 12 19 169 0 1 0 0 Michel Harvey C 40 6 13 19 14 0 2 0 0 Pierre Guite LW 66 10 8 18 136 0 1 0 0 Jim Blain D 70 1 10 11 78 0 0 0 0 Ken Desjardine D 37 2 6 8 36 0 0 0 0 Paul Larose RW 28 0 7 7 7 0 0 0 0 Guy Dufour RW 9 3 2 5 2 0 1 0 0 Jean-Yves Cartier D 15 0 3 3 8 0 0 0 0 Norm Descoteaux D 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Jacques Lemelin G 9 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Brit Selby LW 7 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 Serge Aubry G 52 0 0 0 54 0 0 0 0 Richard Brodeur G 24 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 Alan Globensky D 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mike McNamara C 19 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Serge Aubry 3036 52 25 22 3 182 3.60 1 Richard Brodeur 1288 24 5 14 2 102 4.75 0 Jacques Lemelin 434 9 3 4 0 29 4.01 0 Team: 4758 78 33 40 5 313 3.95 1

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; /- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

See also

• 1972–73 WHA season